GlobalWarmingisReal contributor Anders Hellum-Alexander wraps-up and comments on the climate and environmental news headlines for the past week:

The oil from the Canadian Alberta Tar Sands contains more sulfur than other oil so it is more corrosive and wears through pipelines quicker. Would you want this oil suddenly flowing through the pipelines in your community? Some people in New England are faced with this and are saying no to the dirtier fuel.

Obama has still not taken bold action on climate change, maybe because Republicans have successfully tied him up in just trying to keep the government functioning, the minority government is just being a wrench in the gears. What is happening though is that due to the recession greenhouse gas emission have declined in America, energy efficiency is going up, renewable energy is being installed at record levels and all the while we are using more natural gas while the world heats up. Obama is supporting more money for "clean" vehicles, but if he continues to not crack down on dirty energy, it will be too little too late. Maybe Obama was never going to be the environmental savior of the US, and is now thoroughly proving it.

Natural Gas fracking is getting attention from the federal government and some bills regulating fracking are being proposed in Congress. We need at least some focused and updated regulation at the national level and then if states want stricter rules they should make those. If so much energy is going to come from fracking in the coming decades it better be well regulated. We need energy, but not at the cost of clean water and human health.